Colin Kaepernick Items To Be Included In Black Lives Matter Collection At Smithsonian

Items related to Colin Kaepernick's national anthem protest and his other efforts to call attention to racial inequality and police brutality will be displayed as part of a Black Lives Matter collection at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History, a museum curator told USA TODAY Sports Friday night.

Author:
A.J. Perez, USA TODAY Sports , KHOU

Published:
12:25 PM EDT August 19, 2017

Updated:
12:27 PM EDT August 19, 2017

Items related to Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest and his other efforts to call attention to racial inequality and police brutality will be displayed as part of a Black Lives Matter collection at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History, a museum curator told USA TODAY Sports Friday night.

"The National Museum of African American History and Culture has nearly 40,000 items in our collection," Damion Thomas, the Washington museum’s sports curator, said in an email. "The Colin Kaepernick collection is in line with the museum's larger collecting efforts to document the varied areas of society that have been impacted by the Black Lives Matter movement."

A report earlier Friday claimed Kaepernick, who is currently a free agent after opting out of his contract with the San Francisco 49ers, would get his "own exhibit," but Thomas said that’s not the case.

"There are no current plans for an exhibition on Colin Kaepernick," Thomas said.

Thomas previously told USA TODAY Sports that the museum planned to display Kaepernick’s items — including a game-worn jersey, shoes and a picture donated by noted sociologist Harry Edwards — within "one or two years."